Chance Encounters
by Lady Rava
Summary: AU fic. Zelgadis is a prince and Lina is one of the nobles from whom he must choose a wife. But they happen to meet and don't recognize each other. Z/L and possibly some G/S and X/F later. *CHAPTER 2 UP*
1. First meeting

Chance Encounters  
Chapter 1  
By: Lady Rava  
  
  
It was a beautiful day. The sun shone high in the crystal clear sky, its beams of light seeming to embrace the entire countryside, creating a feeling of tranquility that could lighten the hardest of hearts and a warmth and peace that seemed to fill almost the entire land. Yet there was one place that was untouched by the good mood of the day. The Inverse estate seemed to be surrounded by an impenetrable aura of tension and anger, and all emitting from one very pissed-off girl.  
  
"NO!"  
  
"You must."  
  
"I WON'T!" The fiery red haired girl screamed, infuriated. Her voice echoed across the nearly empty room, now empty because the majority of the palace staff had already fled the room in fear of their mistress's rage. Which was probably a good thing considering the enraged girl had already fireballed half the room's contents, leaving the room a charred mess.  
  
Unfortunately, the recipient of the girl's anger seemed unaffected by her tantrums. In fact, he seemed to become even more annoying to her, though he was growing weary of her resistance. "My lady," he continued in an annoyingly patient voice, "you must understand you have no choice in this matter. By the king's law all noble ladies are required to be presented to the prince as suitors."   
  
"I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE STUPID LAW!" Lina Inverse screamed in response, the elaborate dress that she was required to wear for formal occasions swirling around her as she paced. There was no way that stupid adviser was going to force her fawn before some stranger, especially not some prince who was rumored to be self-centered and cold-hearted. Nope, nothing could force her to weaken her resolve. Not one thing…  
  
"Lina Inverse you WILL present yourself at the prince's court in two days," a stern voice interjected.  
  
"Yes nee-chan," Lina replied in a meek voice.  
  
And that was that.  
  
  
"FIREBALL! FLARE ARROW! DIL BRANDO!" Came the shouts from Lina's bedchamber. The servants ignored her for the most part, both used to their mistress's temper and fearful of her rage should they attempt to check on her. And considering the fact that Lina was not really paying attention to what she was fireballing, this was probably a good thing.  
  
At the moment said girl was laying on her bed panting after only partially venting her anger at the expense of her room. "Damn them," Lina growled softly "They only think of me as some pawn, a tool to be pushed around like some mindless drone. And I have to do what nee-chan says or I'll be punished." She shivered slightly at the thought of facing her sister's rage. Lina sighed softly, "L-sama I wish I hadn't been born a noble!" She paused for a second them slammed a fist into her bed, "Well if they think I'm gonna act like some simpering little lady they've got another thing coming, I'm Lina Inverse the most powerful sorceress in the land and I'll be damned if I'll marry some prince!"  
  
Resolved, Lina stood, pulling her dress over her head she flung it into the corner and pulled on her sorceress attire, determined to enjoy at least one more day before she was forced to appear in the prince's court. Padding silently over to the window, she swiftly pulled it open and slipped out into the night.  
  
At about the same time as Lina's err...argument with her adviser, the prince who had indirectly caused all of Lina's problems was involved in an argument of his own, over exactly the same subject...  
  
Zelgadis Greywers, crown prince of the powerful nation of Gielata was not happy. Not happy at all. In fact he was downright furious. Of course it was not like anyone could tell, considering he always looked depressed and annoyed, he had right to anyway; not many people had the misfortune of being a chimera.  
  
However, for once Zelgadis was not brooding over his condition. He was, at the moment, involved in a battle of wills with his very annoying, self-appointed adviser, who also happened to have fruitcake tendencies. Rava: Gee wonder who it is? ^_^   
  
"Xellos!" Zelgadis growled, "I do NOT need a wife!" He clenched a fist while repeating this for perhaps the twentieth time and glared at the aforementioned mazoku.   
  
Xellos smiled contently; he was getting quite a meal from Zelgadis's anger and it amused him even more that Zelgadis was probably aware of this and even angrier because of it. "Of course you do Zelly-kun," Xellos stated while wagging his finger. "You're certainly old enough and you need someone to keep you from brooding all the time. Plus the king has ordered that you marry a noble lady. But if you don't want a wife there's always me, ne Zelly-kun?"  
  
"FRUITCAKE!" Zelgadis sputtered glaring at Xellos and flinching from the completely inappropriate nickname. He repeatedly cursed the fact that he was required to be civil with Xellos in order to uphold the treaty with the mazoku. After imagining several ways he'd like to kill the mazoku, Zelgadis calmly looked up and flatly stated, "There is no way you can get me to go through with this."  
  
"Well yes I figured that," Xellos admitted. "That's why I took the liberty of issuing invitations to all the noble ladies without your permission." he finished proudly.  
  
"YOU WHAT!!!" Zelgadis exploded. He should've expected that mazoku would do something like this, but that did nothing to vent his anger. Besides, it was not like any of the ladies would want to marry him anyway; who could love a freak like him? Zelgadis looked up "and how," he questioned, "do you plan to force me to do something I have no desire to do?" He finished in a dangerous tone.  
  
And Xellos simply stated, "Sore wa himitsu desu."  
  
Growling softly under his breath, Zelgadis stood, and stalked towards the door.  
  
"Where are you going Zelly-kun?" The mazoku questioned.  
  
"Hopefully as far away from you as possible!" Came the furious reply.  
  
"Well then have fun!" Xellos said in a cheerful voice, "but be back soon, your guests arrive in two days."  
  
His only reply was the forceful slamming of the door as Zelgadis stalked out of the palace.  
  
  
"Damn mazoku," Zelgadis muttered, irritably shoving branches out of his way as he stalked through the underbrush in the Lymani Forest, which was just east of his castle. The forest was the largest such in the kingdom and extended to the border of Gielata. The tall, overgrown trees that made up the forest had the effect of making it nearly impossible to travel far without getting lost. Add that to the fact that the moon was concealed in the depth of the forest, and it should have been impossible for a normal human to detect anyone or anything approaching.  
  
But Zelgadis was not human and he was far from normal. So therefore it was not strange that he detected a presence nearby after wandering through the forest for a couple of hours and straying far from the palace grounds. However, what surprised him was that whoever was nearby seemed to detect him as well, for he could tell that whoever he sensed had stopped moving the second he approached.  
  
Freezing in his tracks, he warily looked around; his chimera senses should reveal to him the exact location of whoever was nearby. Or so he thought...  
  
"Don't move," a voice commanded from behind Zelgadis. He could feel the soft intake of breath at the base of his neck and the pressure of the object pressed against his throat. Being careful not to move so as not to provoke the stranger, he silently mulled over his current situation. As the prince of a power of power country, it was not all uncommon that he found himself the target of an assassin's blade, and logically he assumed this to be the case. Yet, what surprised him was how the assassin had managed to sneak up on him without him noticing.   
  
"Must not be one of the clumsy assassins I usually get", he mused to himself, "of course whoever it is doesn't seem to know that I can't be harmed by a simple dagger." He carefully reached downward toward the sword he wore at his side, planning to catch his assailant unaware. The assassin immediately grasped his arm at the same time removing the knife from his neck. Twisting quickly out of the assassin's grasp, Zelgadis shoved him roughly and plucked the dagger out of his attacker's hand while he was distracted. His assailant fought back savagely, giving him no time to draw his sword and clawing at Zelgadis with a deep rage while hurling a couple of spells at him, which surprised Zelgadis because most assassins were more proficient with a blade than with magic. However, as his assailant recited a spell Zelgadis attempted to gain an advantage. Shoving forward he managed to catch the assassin off guard and pushed him forward. The assassin stumbled and fell backward, the hands reaching out and grabbing Zelgadis caused him to fall as well and the two went rolling down the slight incline and landing in a clearing, Zelgadis on top of the assassin. Zelgadis looked down, the moonlight shining above revealing the identity of the assassin, and realized with a shock that his assassin was a girl.   
  
The girl was dressed in a sorceress outfit with a long black cape wrapped around her shoulders. Blood red talismans adorned her wrists, waist and neck and she wore a black headband, which seemed to do know them to hold back her unruly red hair. "She certainly doesn't look like an assassin," Zelgadis thought to himself. Actually he thought she looked more like a child than anything else, but the way she fought told him that he should be careful in dealing with her.  
  
Zelgadis pinned the girl's wrists to the ground, his weight on top of her keeping her from escaping despite her fierce struggling, and attempted to keep from blushing at their position. "Why were you following me?" He growled softly his ice blue eyes meeting her indignant, crimson ones.  
  
"What the hell are you talking about?" Lina snapped, "you were following me."  
  
"Why would I be following some child?" Zelgadis demanded.  
  
"CHILD?! I'll have you know I'm sixteen and it's only natural that a beautiful sorcery genius such as myself be the target of an attack," Lina huffed arrogantly, "besides who would follow someone like you, its not like you're important or anything."  
  
"There are many people who would want to kill me and I refuse to believe that you don't recognize me." He was the only chimera that was prince of Gielata after all.  
  
"Well I don't. Should I?" she retorted angrily. She tried to move her hands so she could cast a spell, but found that she couldn't budge his grasp on her arms even an inch. Growling slightly she slammed her knee against his leg, but let out a cry of pain when she hit solid rock.   
  
"Itai..."  
  
Zelgadis released his grip and stood, watching the girl rub her injured knee. He was slightly perplexed as to why she would be stupid enough to hit someone made of stone; she looked fairly intelligent to him. Sighing softly, he knelt down and cast recovery on her knee. "You shouldn't hit someone made of stone," he told her seriously, "it isn't exactly the smartest thing to do."  
  
"You're made of stone?" Funny she hadn't noticed that before, "Well you do look a little different," she said cocking her head slightly and looking at him closely.  
  
Zelgadis was shocked, "she thinks I look a LITTLE different, can't she tell I'm a hideous monster?" He shook his head, bemused, "you're a strange girl."  
  
Lina snorted and flipped her hair over her shoulder. "Well at least I don't stalk innocent girls."  
  
"Innocent?!"  
  
Lina glared at him and stood, brushing herself off. She looked up and noticed it was considerably lighter than it had been before and realized that it was almost morning. "EEK Luna's gonna kill me. Umm I gotta go, try not to attack anymore beautiful girls, k?" She said cheerfully while flashing him a victory sign before dashing off through the forest.  
  
Zelgadis sweatdropped, "what a strange girl," he mused running a hand through his hair. He stood and began the long walk back to the palace, no longer having any desire to roam aimlessly through the forest. For some reason, he had the strangest feeling that he would see that girl again. He just wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.  
  
  
  



	2. And the competition arrives...

Chance Encounters  
Chapter 2  
By: Lady Rava  
  
Author's Note: Sorry for the long delay, I've been in France for the past month and haven't had access to the computer. I'll try to get the next part up soon. *Ducks flying fruit* really I promise... Anyway please R&R! ~Rava   
  
***  
  
The scenery seemed to roll by slowly from Lina's view through the carriage window. She would have thought they had been traveling on the narrow rocky trail for hours had the sun's position not told her little than an hour had passed. She sighed inwardly and looked away from the window trying to ignore the anticipation and dread which filled her. Mentally she saw the pieces of her freedom slipping away with each turn of the carriage wheels and with that freedom pieces of herself. She had never been one to just give up when faced with an unwanted situation. But, she simply could not see any way out of her current dilemma. She would be presented as a chattel to the prince, and even though she would resist, as was her nature, she couldn't escape the feeling that her life would be changed whether she liked it or not. And Lina Inverse did not like change she could not control.  
  
"Still," she mused taping her fingers on the windowsill, "there's no way this prince will choose me as his bride, he'll want a dainty little lady. And perhaps I can use this as an opportunity to escape this pointless life as a noble and truly become the sorceress I only masquerade as when Luna isn't looking." Lina smiled inwardly, she wasn't certain how to achieve what she wanted, but at least being at the palace would give her space from Luna; she just had to deal with a prince first.  
  
"Maybe being sent to the palace won't be such a bad thing after all," Lina thought to herself. "Plus the food is supposed to be good."  
  
Of course Lina wasn't the only girl traveling to the palace as a prospective bride to the prince. No, as the law decreed all girls of noble birth in the land set forth to present themselves to the prince. This included girls from the gentle bred Sylphiel to the arrogant Martina of Xoana and finally to one very deranged princess.  
  
"The cry of justice must not go unheard!" Shouted Princess Amelia Wil Tesla of Saillune form the top of her carriage. There she stood aloft, despite the protests of the driver, chin uplifted and finger stabbing through the air as she loudly proclaimed her speeches of justice to the passing trees. As her carriage passed, flowers wilted and animals scampered away as Amelia recited her 203rd justice speech (all of which had been written the previous night). As the princess of a neighboring kingdom, Amelia had not been required to present herself before the prince as a prospective bride and therefore had resisted at first when her advisor suggested she go anyway. However, once her advisor had informed her of how a royal marriage between two countries would spread justice, Amelia had agreed wholeheartedly, and now thoroughly believed that she would spread justice through the land. Naturally, she assumed the prince would choose her.   
  
"And so," she proclaimed, finger pointed ahead and cape flapping righteously behind her. "Through this royal marriage justice will be spread forth through the land and destroy all evildoers!" Posing elegantly she leaped forward...and fell flat on her face.  
Zelgadis sighed, toying aimlessly with the fancy silk shirt he wore. Nothing was going right for him. First, he had been greeted at the entrance to the palace by the king, his grandfather/great-grandfather Rezo, who had demanded he prepare himself and stop brooding. Of course, that meant Xellos had spoken to him: the fruitcake probably enjoying the fact that he would be a source of Zelgadis's torment. Yet again. It wasn't like Rezo actually cared for Zelgadis; they pretty much had a mutual hatred of each other. Rezo had even turned Zelgadis into a chimera in order to gain power, now he was trying to marry him off to gain yet another ally in his quest for power. Zelgadis hated that he was now being used to help his grandfather/great-grandfather; he wanted to do all he could to spite the man. Rezo had even signed a treaty with the mazoku of all races, leaving Zelgadis at the mercy of Xellos for an advisor.  
  
So now Zelgadis sat, suppressing yet another yawn and trying to be attentive, as girl after girl was presented before him. At the door, his master of the guard, Gourry Gabriev, stood stiffly with a blank expression on his face. His lack of intellect kept him from remembering the girls' names, but not from making inappropriate remarks about their chest sizes.  
  
Zelgadis shifted impatiently in his throne and tried to keep his face impassive as an arrogant green-haired girl told him to bow down before her god, a Zolmeguster or something. He couldn't hold back a chuckle when Xellos made a remark about the next girl and she pulled out a mace and proceeded to pound him into the ground. Of course Xellos's remark was true; the girl did have a tail tied with a pink bow protruding from her dress.   
  
Next, a lovely purple-haired girl entered the room, her head bowed slightly. While crossing the foyer, she lifted her head slightly and glanced shyly around. Her gaze met Zelgadis's for a brief moment before landing on Gourry's unintelligent one.  
  
"Oh," she whispered softly, her eyes widening as her cheeks began to flush; she had never seen such a handsome man in her life.  
  
"Ahem," Xellos interjected sternly.  
  
"Oh, excuse me," she murmured turning around to face the prince. Gathering her skirts, she curtseyed deeply. "Greetings your majesty, I am Lady Sylphiel Nels Rada from the land of Sairaag," she said daintily in a soft voice. "I am honored to make your acquaintance."  
  
The prince nodded absently, his thoughts obviously not on the lovely lady in front of him. Sylphiel curtseyed deeply again and moved to stand to the side. There she twirled a strand of purple hair absently all the while glancing out of the corner of her eye at Gourry.  
  
From his position next to the prince, Xellos made a gesture and the next girl stepped forward. Zelgadis sighed; it was going to be a long day...  
  
***  
  
"Hurry!" Lina called out to the driver impatiently. The driver ground his teeth in irritation and snapped his whip, encouraging the horses to run even faster than their current galloping run. The procession of girls had been due to start over an hour ago and they had not yet reached the palace. They would have been on time too, had Lina not decided to stop for a four course meal. Now she acted as if the driver was to blame for her actions. Yanking the reins he brought the carriage to a halt in front of the gates. It had barely stopped before Lina had jumped out and dashed through the gardens leading to the palace. A tree stump caused her to lose her balance for a moment and she paused panting softly. She was almost there...  
  
In the throne room of the palace, the last of the nobles had just presented themselves when a petite raven-haired girl entered the room flanked by guards. She was dressed in an elegant long pink gown with a long cape fluttering behind her. Pearls adorned her wrists and neck and the crown perched atop her head identified her as royalty. However, her demeanor was different than that of a normal princess, as she did not look modest and proper at all.  
  
Amelia crossed the threshold of the throne room, her gaze sweeping from one side of the room to the other. She glanced briefly at the other girls standing at one side of the room, but paid them no mind. They wouldn't be competition for her, after all she was royalty and justice was on her side. Smoothing her skirts, she glanced quickly at the prince's advisor, a strange looking man with purple hair and slanted eyes, before turning her gaze to the prince.   
  
"He looks like a freak," Amelia thought to herself, gazing at the blue-stoned man. She mentally steeled herself and focused her thoughts on justice. "After all justice is justice and I, Amelia Wil Tesla Saillune am willing to make sacrifices to insure it will be spread." She nodded firmly glancing at the prince again and realized happily that, despite his stone appearance, the prince was really cute.  
  
Reaching the dais, Amelia curtseyed deeply. "I am Princess Amelia Wil Tesla of the kingdom of Saillune," she said in a loud voice, "I have come to spread justice and righteousness through my marriage to the prince." She turned and pointed a finger at the other girls. "All you who would dare oppose me know this: the flow of justice cannot be stopped. Its waves of righteousness cover the entire world! You have no chance when I proclaim this call of justice, so you might as well just leave!"  
  
Xellos chuckled to himself noticing Zelgadis wince and sweatdrop at the strange girl. It was amusing to watch the chimera when he was being tormented, but he had to admit the girl's speech was making him sick to his stomach. Through half-narrowed eyes he watched the annoying girl prance around for a while giving speeches of justice before she finally quieted down and stepped into the throng of girls. Xellos frowned slightly, watching Zelgadis emit a sigh of relief, he was certain there was supposed to be another girl. He scratched his head trying to remember who it was when at that moment an unruly redhead burst through the door.  
  
Lina gasped for breath, running swiftly up the stairs in the main hall. She swore under her breath when one of her heels broke on a step and threw both her shoes off impatiently. Reaching the top she yanked the door open and stumbled inside, her crimson locks an unruly mess and her dress torn in several places. So focused was she on catching her breath that she did not notice the prince nor did he notice her, as he was staring into space, praying to be somewhere else. However, as if connected they both lifted their heads at the same moment and their eyes met.  
  
Gazes interlocked, both Zelgadis and Lina's eyes widened and they both simultaneously exclaimed:  
  
"YOU!"   
  



End file.
